YouTube TV Restores ABC, ESPN & Other Channels as Disney and Google Reach Deal

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YouTube TV

After a contract dispute that saw YouTube TV remove ESPN, ABC, and other channels from its service, Disney and Google have reached a new deal to restore the networks to the streamer.

As reported by Variety, the new agreement with Disney will see the price for YouTube TV remain at $64.99/month. However, Google will still offer the $15 credit to users that it promised on Decemberber 17 when the Disney-backed channels went dark.

“We have already started to restore access to Disney networks like ESPN and FX, including their live and on-demand content, as well as any recordings that were previously in your [DVR] Library,” YouTube said Sunday (via Variety). “We will also be turning on the local ABC stations over the course of the day.”

YouTube TV, which is estimated to have more than 4 million subscribers in the United States, faced potential subscriber losses while the Disney channels were unavailable. Disney, meanwhile, was set to lose out on advertising and carriage-fee revenue until the networks were restored.

“We are pleased to announce that after a brief disruption, we have reached a new distribution agreement with Google’s YouTube TV for continued carriage of our portfolio of networks,” said a statement from Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution.

The statement continued: “We appreciate Google’s collaboration to reach fair terms that are consistent with the market, and we’re thrilled that our robust lineup of live sports and news plus kids, family and general entertainment programming is in the process of being restored to YouTube TV subscribers across the country.”

Disney and Google’s previous deal expired on Friday while the companies were still at odds over carriage fees. This stalemate saw YouTube TV remove over a dozen Disney-owned cable networks and ABC-owned local stations from its streaming service. All DVR recordings of Disney programming were also blocked during the dark period.




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  1. O

    OliveBeer

    12/21/21 and still do not have my channels restored!! How do we get this taken care of?

    15

  2. P

    PurpleWheel

    ABC, FX ,FXX and FXM not restored yet I need my credit, I’m not getting what I paid for.

    5

  3. O

    OliveCactus

    What do I think? I think if you remove channels from my guide as a result of your business dealings, then you should add them back once your dealings are resolved. Why should we have to do this nonsense?

    4

  4. R

    RedElephant

    I had the same issue and this fix worked for me..

    Here’s how to re-enable the Disney-owned channels — and anything else that’s new that you might be missing — and move things around in the best order for your preferences:

    Go to tv.youtube.com/live in a web browser. (It only works in a browser.)

    In the top right, look for Sort. If you’re already using the default sort, you should be good to go.

    If you’re already using the Custom view, click Edit to enter the Live Guide settings.

    Scroll to the bottom and find any channels that don’t have a red checkmark next to them.

    Click the radio button to re-enable the channel.

    You can now re-order the channels by grabbing the handles (the four lines) or clicking the overflow menu (three dots) to push them all the way to the top or bottom.

    That’s it. Maybe one of these years YouTube TV will actually fix this. Or maybe they consider it to be a feature.

    2 1

  5. C

    CyanBottle

    Still don't have my channels. Why??

    1

  6. O

    OrangeLamp

    Good Luck. YouTubeTV just keeps saying: "our engineers will get back with you once it is fixed" 01/04/2022

  7. O

    OrangeLamp

    01/04/2022 and ABC local still not restored. Well, it works for a few minutes at a time, here and there. WTAE Pittsburgh has been blocked all day since at about 9am All local programming has been replaced by GMA3, and World News Tonight was replaced by 30 minutes of commercials. ABC is not done trying to muscle cord-cutters around.

  8. C

    CyanBucket

    All this time I have this app and not realize that when you create a custom view, any new channels YouTube TV adds doesn’t show up in your list. You have to go in browser in “Live” and add those with a red check mark. Same with channels lost and re-added like Disney and ABC

  9. B

    BlueChefHat

    Count yourself lucky

  10. B

    BlueTooth

    Try a different provider. Clearly YTTV doesn't give a ....

  11. B

    BlueTooth

    12/30 I don't either. Quick to shut off; but not quick to restore.

  12. O

    OrangeBottle

    No channel back as of12/30/21

  13. O

    OrangeBottle

    No channels restored yet

  14. B

    BlueFan

    27th….. where is my ABC 7?

    I do not like other news

  15. G

    GoldDucky

    I still do not have my channels back yet. It is 12-26. What is going on. When can I expect

    It back and also want a credit as well

  16. G

    GoldFlame

    STILL NO ABC

  17. C

    CyanLamp

    When will it be back on?

  18. C

    CyanStrawberry

    You need to go in and manually restore it through the computer or your phone under your account

    1. P

      PurpleLeaf

      How?

  19. G

    GreenRocket

    I had to go into my account an manually add the channels back in. give that a try and hope that helps

    1. P

      PurpleLeaf

      How?

  20. G

    GreenBee

    No abc

  21. G

    GoldLeaf

    Here in NJ we do not have the channels restored yet either. So annoying.

  22. B

    BlueHelmet

    12/22/21 & YouTube TV still has not restored our channels

  23. G

    GreenBowtie

    i live in mississippi and nothing has been restored

  24. O

    OliveSnow

    I'm in Los Angeles and still don't have any of my channels BUT I just discovered that if you download the ABC app, you can access live ABC programming by entering YouTubeTV as your provider and then entering your email and password info.

  25. P

    PurpleBug

    same. i got nothing

  26. B

    BlueBandAid

    I live in New York City have had abc channel 7 in New York City Disney channel’s including sports channels haven’t been restored yet

  27. G

    GoldGlasses

    ABC and ESPN not restored yet 12/21/21. What’s up Youtube TV???

    I will be needing a Credit to my account for the days I missed Tamron Hall show.

  28. P

    PurpleBlowdryer

    We live in Metro Atlanta. Channels have not been restored yet.

  29. G

    GoldTrumpet

    I don't either

    1. B

      BlueLocomotive

      In Louisville KY area. I do not have access either

  30. G

    GreenCloud

    I still don't have ABC or ESPN ????

  31. O

    OrangeCandy

    I had to go into my settings then to live guide and recheck the boxes for channels that were affected by this, then go to the youtubetv app and click on custom or default above the channel listing, toggle between the two and then check your guide - the channels you rechecked should be there.

    1